MBB Game 01 vs. St. Joseph's (LI), Nov 6 (Mon), 11:30 AM

[Wags]

IUPUI only beat Spalding, 70-63, to start the season. So, if we learn nothing else from this game, it's good to see HU take it seriously.
94-42 with just over two minutes left.

[EvanJ]

Hofstra is one of 185 men's hoops D-I teams playing today and one of 72 playing against a non-DI team.

Do we not have separate divisions for a reason? Teams should only be playing against their own divisions.

I don't like non-Division I games, but there are not many of them when teams are in conference play, so the percent of games with at least one Division I team that have a non-Division I team decreases during the season. Hofstra plays one per season, and I will complain if Hofstra plays more than one.
Furthermore, there are poor schools that get paid to travel and sometimes do not host any nonconference games or only host non-Division I teams. If you are a fan of a Southwestern Athletic (SWAC) team, you would feel differently about non-Division I games. If you go to https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... 2/group/26 and check the schedule every day of November and December and note where the games are, you'll get a small sense about what it is like to be a fan of a have-not, and it must be really hard for the players who have to travel that much. An article from 2008 about the have-nots is at https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... id=3221302 and the gap between haves and have-nots must be even bigger today than it was then. I'm not singling you out. Most fans don't know and/or don't care how hard it is for players on bad teams that have to travel a lot and don't have many fans when they play at home, and Hofstra fans know more about what it is like to be a have-not than fans of the top schools.

[EvanJ]

IUPUI only beat Spalding, 70-63, to start the season. So, if we learn nothing else from this game, it's good to see HU take it seriously.
94-42 with just over two minutes left.

IUPUI was fourth-worst of 363 teams in the NET last season. Their only Division I wins were hosting Robert Morris (247th), a neutral site win in their state over Texas A&M-Commerce (303rd), and hosting Green Bay (361st and one of the three teams worse than them). They won 75-53 hosting Spalding, so today's margin was 15 points worse than last season.

We did something that no team had done from 2010-2011 to now, which is as far back as the Sports-Reference College Basketball Play Index goes, which is to score at least 101 points with 0 or 1 made free throw. Furthermore, we shot field goals .532, which is low by the standards of a team that scored 101 even if you didn't know that they made only 1 free throw. Last season every team that scored at least 101 and shot field goals .532 or lower made at least 7 free throws.

Fritz became the first player from 2010-2011 to now to not attempt a field goal or free throw, and have at least 6 rebounds, at least 6 assists, at least 1 steal, and at least 1 block. It is not the first time we played a game that I found two first time rare events in. Sports-Reference eliminated the Play Index for College Football, so I assumed they eliminated it for College Basketball, and I am happy it still exists.

[dutchPride86]

So obviously silly to draw any conclusions off that opponent, but in the spirit of the NFLs "overreaction Monday"...

- Makes sense starting Bryce over German (esp with Wilmoth injured). Germans energy is perfect coming off the bench and he's the closest thing they have to another forward to spell Dubar
- Carlos' shot looks improved, good sign
- Can definitely see how coaching staff hopes Fritz/Sunday replicates Nelson/Warren Williams. Fritz's pass to cutting Dubar for a dunk might have been my favorite play of the game. Sunday nice activity on offensive glass. Hard to tell how two will hold up defensively though against real bigs
-KiJan Robinson is the new amare Marshall. Clear offensive potential, but coaching staff is gonna have to really rein him in, some wild undisciplined shots. But definitely talent there
- Really liked Farmer's minutes off the bench, thought he played better than box score would indicate. Felt most in sync with the flow of the game of the bench guys after German
- hysterical that even against d3 team hofstra incapable getting to the foul line

[Wags]

Hofstra is one of 185 men's hoops D-I teams playing today and one of 72 playing against a non-DI team.

Do we not have separate divisions for a reason? Teams should only be playing against their own divisions.

I don't like non-Division I games, but there are not many of them when teams are in conference play, so the percent of games with at least one Division I team that have a non-Division I team decreases during the season. Hofstra plays one per season, and I will complain if Hofstra plays more than one.
Furthermore, there are poor schools that get paid to travel and sometimes do not host any nonconference games or only host non-Division I teams. If you are a fan of a Southwestern Athletic (SWAC) team, you would feel differently about non-Division I games. If you go to https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... 2/group/26 and check the schedule every day of November and December and note where the games are, you'll get a small sense about what it is like to be a fan of a have-not, and it must be really hard for the players who have to travel that much. An article from 2008 about the have-nots is at https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... id=3221302 and the gap between haves and have-nots must be even bigger today than it was then. I'm not singling you out. Most fans don't know and/or don't care how hard it is for players on bad teams that have to travel a lot and don't have many fans when they play at home, and Hofstra fans know more about what it is like to be a have-not than fans of the top schools.

I get it with all of this. Play the games if they must, but they should strictly be exhibitions. They shouldn't sort of "artificially" inflate season and all-time program win totals (not just for HU but for the many other D-I schools that play these games as well).

[Wags]

- hysterical that even against d3 team hofstra incapable getting to the foul line

I wouldn't say "incapable," I would say "didn't look to get there and didn't need to." They took 77 shots, 42 from 3. And they were cruising with a huge lead for most of the game, so really no need to get inside or get the line. I wouldn't anything into that from this game. Now, if it's tight against Princeton, and if the FTA are very low when a few more trips to the line could either keep them closer or expand a close lead further, then we can talk about the FTA. I hope the 18/42 (42.9%) from 3 on the 77 total FGA isn't fool's gold going forward. They can't be that dependent on the 3 over the course of the season. They're going to need some balance with the approach and there will be key games when they'll need to increase the FTA and FTM. With Mr. Mid-Range no longer here, I hope others will still look to score from there too. Thomas can, though today he was 8/13 from 3, 1/1 from 2. If he and other are making the 3s like today, by all means, fire away. But recognize when it's not the day for that and be flexible rather than sticking with that too much on a cold day from 3.

[triplec2195]

Just saw parts of this game on Flo and obviously all us. Aside from the local interest I hear of more and more D2 and D3 players making it on to D1 rosters. There r a lot of good players around. So not terrible as they had some decent players but the final is always the same result. We get a sneak preview as to what we have to look forward to!

[Cards]

Was at the game - A couple of quick takeaways

Washington starting over Plotnikov. Thought it might be the reverse, but its kinda six of one/half dozen of the other. Bryce looks very quick and athletic on the court (even in warmups). German played well off the bench last season, maybe he is better suited to be the super sixth man. I am good with either.

KJ Robinson is very smooth and plays with a very calm tempo. He certainly does not play like a typical freshman. Very mature game for his age! Not afraid to throw up some deep threes - appears very confident.

Would have liked to see more offense from the bigs. Fritz played about 25 min and took no shots. He was active on the boards and setting picks and passing, but no shots! Sunday had e few inside shots and putbacks. I'm optimistic about the two of them in the middle this season.

No minutes for Parnell. He looked healthy warming up (the kid can fly above the rim!). Any word re possible injury?

Typical D1 vs D3 game - Rest of team played the way I expected.

[HUSID80]

Somewhat alarmed that we just let it fly from three...again! We have lots of pieces and weapons but I would have liked to see our bigs take it inside and get fouled...AT LEAST ONCE!

Real test will be Friday...FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS!

[Pride97]

Like that they played the D3 game to start the season like an additional scrimmage. In years past, it was a few games in and felt weird to have a “scrimmage” deeper into the OOC schedule.


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[Wags]

Like that they played the D3 game to start the season like an additional scrimmage. In years past, it was a few games in and felt weird to have a “scrimmage” deeper into the OOC schedule.

Rather they play a DI team instead, but agree, if they're going to play this game, it's best to play it as the season opener than several games in.

[Wags]

As of tonight, ESPN gives St. Joseph's about the same chance (5.4%) of winning this game as it gives Elon (5.5%) to win its opener at Wake Forest.
The second one makes sense, but not buying the first one. If Elon is at 5.5% for that one, St. Joseph's should be 1% or less for this one.

Tipping at 11:30 am ET, this will be the second game of the entire college basketball season. Spalding at IUPUI tips the same day at 11 am ET.

It's still pretty early, but Elon up 32-15 at the U8 (7:32).

[Polito]

My two cents - only made the last 5 min of the game, so just some minor insight and stat reading lol. I also loathe these games, near useless, but def better to play them first. Now we can move on to real basketball.

Thought HU did a nice job with the school crowd today, at least they got bodies in seats and generated some noise in what would normally be a desolate game - all the kiddos went wild when HU hit the 101 mark - kudos to Silas and German for connecting on that final play to get triple digits with less than a second left!

The Good
- Thomas and Dubar leading the charge just as desired / needed / expected. Gotta cut those fouls down though.
- Carlos making his effort to level up his impact.
- Silas moves well for his size, gets up and down the floor, and has some nice post moves - also sees the court well, can pass - a work in progress, but he can help this program.
- Liking KJ and Khalil as I expected I would - kids can play and are gonna be ballers. KJ is already the backup PG IMO. Both gonna play this year.
- Good to see Bryce play well, he's going to be needed as a glue guy.
- Also nice to see Barrouk healthy and on the floor. Nothing impressive yet, but step by step as he returns.
- Won the TO battle, and rebounded well for what I saw.
- Scored triple digits and held them under 50 - hard to be too upset - but lots to work on / prove still of course.

The Work In Progress
- Silas needs to be taught how to play D - got scored on every time he defended in just the 5 min I saw. But...
- I also want to see a scheme that doesn't have Silas being forced out to defend the perimeter - no reason for him to be defending 3 point shooters, he belongs in the middle - some of that is on the coaching and needs to be corrected.
- I know this program's strength is shooting, but for goodness sake this roster has a plethora of big guards, GET IN THE DAMN LANE. Supposed to practice things that need work, not lazily settle for things you're already good at. Missed opportunity Speedy, tsk tsk. Taking 4 FT shots is NEVER a positive. You didn't play that way, let's not be a 3 only program for yet another year pls - it doesn't work.
- Fritz as our starting center with ZERO points is atrocious against a D3. I don't care what else he did. He's supposed to do that AND score.
- This team is going to take some time to figure out who it is, I see some talent and potential for sure, but also some lumps coming.


The Questions
- Where the heck was Parnell?? Want to see that kid play, I think he's a talent that will help this team. Hope all is well there.
- Why on earth didn't Fritz even ATTEMPT a shot??? That is absolutely ridiculous in 20+ minutes of play vs a D3 team - all we heard is how versatile this guy will be, how powerful to have him stepping out and hitting 3's, etc - not even ONE shot?!? He better be better than this.

Princeton going to be a tougher test of course. HU going to need to be better than what they showed today. Tigers lost their 2 best, but they are well-coached, just took down Rutgers in their opener on the road, and they will be hungry for revenge. Expecting a close tough game. Not feeling a win here to be honest, but still too early to tell anything about this HU team. Could surprise either way.

[The Shadow]

Princeton 68-Rutgers 61.

[triplec2195]

A formidable opponent for sure.

[Polito]

Going to be tough for HU as they grow into themselves, but won't be easy for Princeton either - this is a pretty big early opportunity for HU to grab a nice initial W - great shot at home to make a little local noise knocking off a Sweet 16 program who just beat RU on the road. If HU want's to start generating some early buzz, this would help do it.

Let's see who on this roster is ready to take the early leadership roles!

[Jojogunne]

Postgame summary, with video highlights and presser:

https://gohofstra.com/news/2023/11/6/me ... ctory.aspx

Looking at the box score, everyone had at least one rebound and one assist.

[Wags]

-KiJan Robinson is the new amare Marshall.

Marshall is on FS1 right now. He hit his first two shots, both from 3, to stake Albany to 6-2 lead at Seton Hall and then got another bucket for 8 of the Great Danes' first nine points. 14-9, Pirates now. They have mentioned a couple of times that he transferred from Hofstra.

[triplec2195]

Marshall had plenty of upside but would he have started here? He starts for Albany correct?

[triplec2195]

In two games he's averaging 30 minutes per game and scoring 9.5 a game. His shooting percentages so far are bad but he has gone to the FT line numerous times.